CNN Central News & Network–ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: An all-round India beat Sri Lanka by 82 runs in the Women’s T20 World Cup at the Dubai Internatinal Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. Team India needed a big win to keep their semifinal hopes alive after suffering a shock defeat at the hands of New Zealand in their campaign opener.
Opting to bat first, captain Harmanpreet Kaur led from the front scoring an unbeaten 52 from 27 balls. Smriti Mandhana (50 off 38) and Shafali Verma (43 off 40) also contributed as India made easy work of the Sri Lankan bowling to post the highest total of the competition thus far — 172/3.
The 98-run stand between Shafali and Smriti set the tone before the skipper took over the charge of the attack.
In return, the islanders stood no chance against the determined neighbours and were foiled for just 90 runs in the penultimate ball of the game. Arundhathi Reddy and Asha Sobhana shined for India with an identical spell of 4-0-19-3 (4.75 Eco). Renuka Singh claimed two wickets (4-0-16-2) while Deepti Sharma and Shreyanka Patil picked up a wicket each.
It was India’s biggest margin of victory in the tournament history, pushing their run rate to positive from negative.
